Unchained melody

On Saturday evening the BBC have a music programme called "Last choir standing"
BBC - Last Choir Standing - News - Track List
I have managed to see a couple of these shows and every time I am reduced to wiping away tears as I watch. I have a deep appreciation of choir singing brought about by my fathers involvement in male voice choirs. Every time I see or hear a male choir it transports me back to days long gone and I can see people in my minds eye now long departed.
On this weeks episode a gospel choir called Revelation came top of the heat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/lastchoirstanding
They sang one song called shackles, a line of which is -Remove the shackles from my feet that I may dance, I just want to praise you- a sentiment that echoed deep within. I would say every time I praise God I'm shackled by chains of some sort, whether it's memories, or embarrassment or fear of what someone is thinking. Watch it as a link above or as sung by the composer on you tube

Saturday

Saturday started off as a dull, cloudy day giving every appearance that it would be wet. We headed off early to go to St Georges market in Belfast.


I love the market, so many free samples to try and foods to eat. We bought the obigatory token, this time Irish marmalade(which is delicious) and a craft maker for Heather. While we were in the market the clouds dissapeared and the sun came out making the market a very warm place to be walking arround.
In Carrick that afternoon there was a cancer charity day with the emergency services present. There were long boat races and joisting in the castle grounds as well as a display from the police helicopter



All in all it was a very pleasent day.

Tim's 22nd

Yesterday was my second eldest 22nd birthday, so for a change and for the first time in my life we went to a sushi bar.
I have always thought that the sign of Belfast becoming a cosmopolitan city would be the opening of a sushi restaurant. Now in Belfast there are several such places. Who would have imagined in the dark days of the 70's that in the 21st century people in Belfast would be sitting down to plates of raw fish and vegetables.





It was a very enjoyable experience and the staff were extremely helpful in explaining what was on each plate. The cost depended on the colour of the dish - obviously related to what was on it.
When I got home I looked at my 11 year old daughter and reminded her how fortunate she was. I was 56 before I sat at a sushi train and here she was with that experience already taken. I wondered what it will be like for her when she reaches my age, will there still be things to look forward to experiencing?

A race apart

During May of 2001, while on a course in Amsterdam, I managed to visit the home of Ann Frank. One could not but be moved in reading the diary excerpts and viewing the room that in which she hid.


On a dark dank December night that same year while in Boston on another training course I visited the Jewish memorial, and was yet again moved in reading the thousands of names inscribed on that structure.



As you look up from these monoliths, the six large towers of glass immediately grab your attention.
Each of these towers represents one of the sixth death camps (Belzec, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibor, Majdanek, Treblinka, and Chelmno). Each tower is made out of plates of glass that are etched with white numbers, which represent the registration numbers of victims.
When you walk underneath the tower, you realize a number of things.
When standing there, your eyes are immediately drawn to the numbers on the glass. Then, your eyes focus on a short quote from survivors, different on each tower, about life either before, within, or after the camps. Soon, you realize that you are standing upon a grate in which warm air is coming out. As Stanley Saitowitz, the designer of the memorial, described it, "like human breath as it passes through the glass chimneys to heaven."

While on a short break in Prague last week I visited the Jewish memorial in the Pinkas Synagogue.


The Pinkas Synagogue is dedicated to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Bohemia and Moravia; their 77,297 names are inscribed on the walls of the main nave and adjoining areas.
The text of the inscriptions was compiled from card indexes, which were drawn up shortly after the war on the basis of extant transport papers, registration lists and survivor's accounts.
As I visited all these sites I couldn't help but be moved to tears as I thought of the inhumanity inflicted on young and old alike, male and female. Surely there is something exceptional about the race of Jews, who have faced persecution throughout history.
Is it because the Messiah was to come from David's line?
Issiah 62
1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet,
till her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
2The nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
3You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.